exam bank

Test Taking Tips

One person’s approach to taking the AWS certification
examinations may help you the next time you’re tested

BY LYNDSEY DECKARD

This column is intended to be a forum for discussing the workings of the Examination Bank Subcommittee of the American Welding
Society Certification Committee. We solicit your questions and comments about certification, examination questions, challenges, proto-
col, or other related certification subjects. They can be mailed to Mary Ruth Johnson at AWS, 550 NW LeJeune Rd., Miami, FL 33126,
or e-mailed to [email protected].

Most of you reading this column already hold an AWS certi- Be sure you understand the question. Proctors will explain
fication as a welding inspector, either as a Senior Certified everything before each test period. If you don’t understand the
Welding Inspector, Certified Welding Inspector, or a Certified instructions, ask right then. It is better to get the explanation
Associate Welding Inspector. Additional AWS certification pro- before the official time starts than to use your precious exam time
grams are available such as Certified Welding Educator (CWE) trying to figure it out for yourself or asking the proctor.
and Certified Welding Engineer (CWEng). Currently proceed-
ing through the necessary development and approval processes Remember that this is a timed test. The Fundamentals por-
are even more specialties such as the Radiographic Interpreter tion has 150 closed book questions to be completed in two hours.
(RI). You may decide that attaining additional AWS certifica- That means you have 48 seconds to answer each question. If you
tions will be useful to you and your company. These added cre- don’t recognize the correct answer immediately, move on. The
dentials can only increase your value to your employer and, in code book portion has 46 open book questions to be answered in
the long run, increase the value of your company to its two hours. That is about 212⁄ minutes to answer each question.
clients/customers. Again, if you don’t find the answer quickly, move on.
All American Welding Society certifications are attained
through experience and knowledge and by passing an examina- Go through all the questions first. As recommended
tion to verify, and to some degree quantify, the extent of that above, go through all the questions in order and try to answer
knowledge and experience. The examinations are not easy and them if you can. If you get hung up on a question, pick an
a certain percentage of examinees take a test more than once answer, then make a light mark in the margin and go on to the
before passing it. next question. Be very careful; do not skip a question because it
If you can memorize the entire welding code on which you can throw you out of synchronization between questions and
will be tested (for instance, D1.1: 2002 is 502 pages long), know answers. If you lose the relationship between the questions and
absolutely everything there is to know about all welding and the lines on the answer sheet, you will have every answer after
NDE processes, and are heavily experienced in their applica- that point attached to the wrong question. This is a really upset-
tion, the exam will be a slam dunk and you need read no further. ting way to fail an exam, so pay close attention. It is a good idea
If, on the other hand, you are a fairly normal, average or above, to verify the question number with the answer line number
experienced welder, inspector, engineer, or technician who is every couple of questions. When you have gone through them
willing to put in some extra preparation time, this column could all, go back to the questions where you placed a mark in the
be helpful. If you have any colleagues taking the exam for the margin.
first time, do them a favor and pass this column along to them.
With these thoughts in mind, I thought I would share with Use all of your time. As stated earlier, this is a timed test.
you my views on how to approach taking an AWS certification Make that work in your favor. Do not be intimidated or influenced
examination in a way that will maximize your chances for suc- by the person who turns in his/her answer sheet in 45 minutes
cess. While these tips are geared toward the CWI exam, they and goes outside to have a cup of coffee for the remaining time.
hold true for any AWS certification examination. That person may be really brilliant, or he or she may have just
given up. When you get through the questions the first time, go
Come prepared. Bring more than one pencil and a good back to the ones that you marked in the margin. Sometimes a sub-
eraser. The test answer sheets are scored by computer. If you sequent question will remind you of an answer to one you post-
change your answer and do not erase completely, the reader poned; sometimes it will eliminate a possible answer as untenable.
may pick up two answers and disqualify that question for you. It Remember, you are not competing with others in the room. You
is also a good idea to bring a light snack for during the break are competing with the examination itself and every additional cor-
(granola bar, candy bar, or other similar energy food). A Big rect answer increases your chances of a passing score. You need
Mac and fries are a bit much. Use good judgment. 70% on each test portion to pass at the CWI level. If the guy who

LYNDSEY DECKARD ([email protected]) is Quality Manager of the Vehicle Division of Parsons Brinckerhoff Transit & Rail
Systems Inc. He is an AWS Senior Certified Welding Inspector, an ASQ Certified Quality Auditor, and a member of the AWS
Certification Committee, the Examination Question Bank Subcommittee, and Chairman of the Ethics Subcommittee.

38 • INSPECTION TRENDS
finishes in 45 minutes on each part of the test gets 65% on one por-
tion and you get one more correct answer than he does by spend- Table 1 — Exam Bank Question Subcommittee Challenged
ing the extra time going over your answers on that portion, guess Questions Actions
which one of you will be a CWI.
Subcommittee Findings AWS Action Change Score
If necessar y, issue a challenge. If, as you take the exam,
Question valid No action No
you encounter a question that you believe is worded incorrect-
ly, offers no correct answer, or offers more than one correct Question valid Review and revise No
answer, the Certification Committee’s Exam Bank but wording could wording by Subcommitte
Subcommittee encourages you to challenge that question. be improved
Challenge forms are available from the proctor at exam sites
No correct answer Review and revise Yes, for all who
and are on the back cover of every exam booklet. All challenges offered question challenge the
are reviewed by the entire Exam Bank Subcommittee and they question
are dispositioned as shown in Table 1.
More than one correct Review and revise Yes, for persons
Keep in mind that there will almost certainly be some areas answer offered question selecting any
correct answer
in which you are not very strong. For those situations, I’d like to
share with you some advice my dad, a very wise man, gave me.
Two of the valuable lessons he taught me bear directly on the
subject of taking multiple choice examinations such as those ◆ “If you don’t know, guess.” A guess has, in this case, a one-in-
used for AWS certification. five chance of being correct. If you can eliminate some obvi-
ously incorrect answers, the odds improve significantly to
one in four or even better.

Welding Question Contest ◆ “Do something, even if it’s wrong.” An answer left blank has
no chance of being correct. If you are running out of time,
The AWS Certification Committee is seeking sample check off one answer in every answer line. Never leave an
questions for possible use in various tests. We are hoping answer blank. In life, doing nothing is not a legitimate option.
that you, the internationally recognized, best welding inspec- Not making a choice is a choice.❖
tors in the world, will submit a few questions.

SAVE 87%...
Prizes (really small ones) will be awarded to a total of ten
entrants in the following categories:

• Most good questions submitted.

• Best question submitted.
• Most obscure question.
• Most interesting question. When You Join AWS!
Contest Rules
Receive the Welding Handbook (9th Ed., Vol. 1)
• Questions must be neatly written. for just $25 when you join AWS, or (a $188 value)
• Questions must be based on D1.1:2002.
• Each question must be multiple choice. your choice of one of the
• Choices must be plausible. following, also for just $25:
• Each question must have five (5) possible answers.
• Page and section number of the Code must be provided as • Design and Planning Manual for
a reference for the question.
Cost-Effective Welding
If you don’t care about the contest (remember, the prizes are • Soldering Handbook
really small), please consider sending in your questions any- • Welding Metallurgy
way. • Jefferson’s Welding Encyclopedia
(CD-ROM only)
All decisions of the judges are final. Winners will be
notified, then recognized in Inspection Trends.
Call the Membership Department today at:
Please send your questions to (800) 443-9353, ext. 480, or (305) 443-9353, ext. 480
Visit us on-line at www.aws.org/membership

New AWS Individual Members can also

Jim Greer SAVE $25 when they join AWS for two-years.
Certification Department
American Welding Society
550 NW LeJeune Rd.
Miami, FL 33126

Circle No. 8 on Reader Info-Card

FALL 2003 • 39